


Die's birthday party

by Vinushuka



Series: After the Ghoul [10]
Category: Dir en grey
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinushuka/pseuds/Vinushuka
Summary: Toshiya travels to Die's birthday party to gether with Mari and Eva joins them at the venue. During the reception they meet Die's jeweler Micmoto, who seems to be interested in business co-operation with Eva. The reception and the dinner after that go smoothly  but during the break before music performances Eva trips in the venue stairs and hurts her ankle and knee. Toshiya escorts her home in a taxi and bandages her sprained ankle. When Eva asks Toshiya to stay the night, he doesnt want to refuse because the opportunity to have a new experience is far too tempting. However new experiences tend to make Toshiya nervous and this case is no exception to the rule...
Relationships: Die/Toshiya (Dir en grey)
Series: After the Ghoul [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565338
Kudos: 1





	Die's birthday party

The long-awaited Die’s birthday party on 20th of December was finally at hand. Toshiya had just taken a shower after his regular gym exercise and prepared to dress up when his phone buzzed. The call was from Mari, Toshiya’s gardener and next-door neighbor.

“Hi Toshiya, I’m sorry to disturb you like this, but I have a favor to ask of you. I don’t like travelling alone on the trains so would it be possible to travel to Die’s birthday party together with you tonight?”

“Yes, of course”, Toshiya replied without hesitation. “At what time were you planning to leave?”

“At about half past six. That would leave us time to walk from the closest station to the venue.”

“That sounds fine to me. See you quarter past six in front of my house!”

Toshiya had just closed the front door behind him when he saw Mari approaching carrying a large giftbag in addition to her handbag. She was wearing a stylish red overcoat and matching gloves. The nights in December could be quite cool so it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. Toshiya was dressed in his blue suit as planned and had a light overcoat on top of that. He didn’t have gloves because he was wearing the bulky ring Die had given to him a week ago.

“Ah, the famous blue suit”, Mari remarked and bowed politely. “You looked absolutely gorgeous in it at the fashion show.”

“Thanks! I promised to Eva to use it in the party to promote her new men’s wear collection”, Toshiya said and gave a quick look at his watch. “I think we’d better take a brisk walk to the station to catch the 6:31 train.”

Toshiya had cracked his brain to figure out a nice birthday present for Die. It would have to be something useful, preferably wearable. First, he considered buying a necklace for him but then he remembered Die’s complaints about his headphones and bought him noise cancelling blue tooth headset for home use. He had his present beautifully wrapped in a giftbag he was carrying.

The train ride went smoothly without disturbances as well as the short walk from the station to the venue. They arrived a bit early, but they were not the only ones. When they had left their overcoats in the cloak room, they headed to meet their radiant host and birthday boy, who was mingling with other early arrivals in his relaxed manner.

“Welcome to the party”, Die grinned when Toshiya and Mari came by to congratulate him.

Mari handed her giftbag first bowing politely: “Happy birthday, Die. I didn’t know that you had so many friends”, Mari said referring to the crowd gathering at the entrance hall.

“By the time a rocker gets to be 39, he has met quite a few fellow musicians and made friends at least with some of them”, Die replied clearly appreciating Mari’s admiration.

Toshiya, who was standing by, could sense the sparkle between Die and Mari. Even Die’s deep disappointment in Mari’s and Eva’s relocation plans hadn’t completely wiped out the attraction those two felt for each other.

“Congratulations my friend!” Toshiya murmured when it was his turn to hand out his present to Die. “I hope the music you listen to sounds better with these”, he hinted.

“Aww, thanks. I think I know what this is”, Die said while his fingers touched lightly Toshiya’s forefinger and the ring, he had given. 

When Mari and Toshiya had stepped aside to collect their welcoming drinks and joined the group of other guests, they noticed that also Eva had arrived. Her tall blond figure seemed to wake up attention among the guests judging by the glances and whispers they heard around them. She sailed across the room in her high heels like some Vogue model to congratulate Die and after that headed to meet Die and Mari. Instead of bowing she gave them both a warm hug.

“Nice to see you again and thanks for your excellent instructions. I went to a gym close to my apartment and survived in one piece”, Eva enthused to Toshiya who seemed to be slightly distracted because of Eva’s hug in public. “There are plenty of people here, but I don’t know a single one of them”, Eva muttered after scanning around the crowd.

“I know some of the musicians and that longhaired older guy over there. He’s Micmoto, Die’s jeweler”, Toshiya said and gave a nod to the guy who happened to look at him at that moment. To Toshiya’s surprise Micmoto gave him a smile and walked over to meet them.

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Motoharu Matsumoto, better known as Micmoto”, the jeweler introduced himself and bowed them politely. When Mari and Eva had formally introduced themselves and exchanged business cards with him, the discussion quickly turned to jewelry and fashion.

“I see you both are already familiar with my jewelry”, Micmoto remarked referring to the bracelets the women were wearing.

“Yes, we love these bracelets Die gave us last August. They fit well together with both womenswear and menswear I have designed”, Eva replied.

“I heard that Toshiya performed in your fashion show a while ago. Is this suit one of your designs? Micmoto asked nodding towards Toshiya.

“In fact, it is and also Mari’s dress” Eva replied.

At that moment Die’s call for silence forced them to interrupt their conversation. He thanked his guests for accepting his invitation and proposed a welcoming toast. After toasting he asked the people to enter the cabinet, where a dinner would be served in a bout fifteen minutes.

“I think we should discuss more about the possible synergies of our businesses. Can I call you next week?”, Micmoto asked as he slipped Eva’s business card into his pocket.

“By all means! I’m looking forward to our discussion”, Eva said sounding extremely pleased.

“Hmm, it looks like this party wasn’t after all a wasted effort from business point of view”, Eva whispered to Toshiya when they were seated at their table. I fact, it was also Die’s table where Mari was sitting on his left side and Toshiya on his right and Eva next to him. The other people in their table were two guys from ESP, Dir En Grey’s guitar supplier, Micmoto and Sugizo, the guitarist of Luna Sea and X Japan.

The party program started with a dinner and was followed by the arrival of the birthday cake and singing of Happy Birthday to Die. After that there was a break of about twenty minutes during which people could use the toilet and stretch their legs a bit. After the break, the program leaflet indicated ‘music performances’, without saying who was performing and what. Most probably Die’s musician friends and maybe also Die himself would play something to entertain the guests.

The air in the cabinet was thick with cigarette smoke, so Eva proposed to Toshiya to have the break outside of the venue.

“Aah, fresh air is gorgeous. I hate it when my clothes reek of smoke several days after dining in a restaurant”, Eva complained when they were standing outside in the already darkened night.

“Couldn’t agree more… I guess smoking in Swedish restaurants is already forbidden.”

“Yeah, since 2005. That is one of the things I appreciate in my home country. But it won’t be easy to adapt oneself to all the changes that have happened in the country during my long absence. I feel I’m already half Japanese. Besides the climate in Sweden is quite much colder than in Japan. One doesn’t go out lightly dressed in December there like we do now.”

“When exactly are you planning to travel back to Sweden?”, Toshiya asked out of curiosity.

“Our target date is 24th of January. I hope that everything goes as planned…” Eva said her voice vibrating slightly. “I think we should go back in; it’s getting cold here.”

They were just climbing up the stairs leading to the front door of the venue when Eva tripped in her high heels and fell on her knees.

“Oh shit, I probably sprained my ancle and my knee is bleeding”, Eva swore after Toshiya had helped her back on her feet again. 

With Toshiya’s support Eva limped back inside, and Toshiya waited in the lobby while Eva went to the restroom to examine her injuries.

“I’m afraid I will have to leave home. My ankle is starting to swell so it’s not wise to use it much. I will take a taxi to drive me home. Can you let Die and Mari know what happened and pass my apologies to Die?”

“I can do that, but wouldn’t it be better if I escorted you? I have some first aid skills so I could bandage your ankle”, Toshiya found himself saying. Was it his internal hero speaking again?

“I don’t want to ruin your party with my problems…”, Eva resisted but didn’t sound very convincing.

“I would be glad to help”, Toshiya assured Eva and, ignoring any further objections, headed back to the cabinet. “I’ll be back in a minute!”

Eva had retrieved her overcoat from the cloakroom and was waiting by the exit door when Toshiya returned.

“Okay Die knows the situation and that I’m escorting you home. I couldn’t find Mari, but I asked Die to inform her. Did you get the taxi already?”

“Yes, it’s waiting for us down there”, Eva said glancing nervously at the flight of stairs they were supposed to descend.

For a while Toshiya considered carrying Eva down the stairs, but changed his mind, because she might find it humiliating. Instead he offered his arm for support and together they limped the stairs down to the waiting car.

“I’m glad I’m not living far away and that you’re here with me to help”, Eva sighed and took Toshiya’s hand into hers when they were finally on their way to Eva’s apartment.

Toshiya didn’t say anything, he just held Eva’s hand wondering how and why he had ended up sitting there. It most certainly hadn’t been his intention to team up with her or barge into her apartment. But things had happened and now he would have to live with it.

After about fifteen minutes’ drive the taxi stopped in front of a high apartment house.

“This is where I live. My apartment is on the 8th floor”, Eva told Toshiya while she was handing the payment to the taxi driver.

Toshiya helped Eva out of the car and to the lobby where a guard was sitting at his desk.

“Good evening Mr. Kimura. I’m afraid I sprained my ankle in a party and need some help from Mr. Hara.” Eva told the guard and flashed a friendly smile at him.

“Oh, sorry to hear that. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need something during the night”, the young man said looking a bit dazzled. It was obvious that he didn’t mind helping Eva under any circumstances.

The lift took them quickly to the 8th floor. Eva grimaced when she put her foot down and started to dig up her keys from her handbag.

“Let me open the door, please”, Toshiya offered when the keys slipped from Eva’s hand and fell on the carpeted floor.

“I’m sorry if it’s a bit messy, I left in a hurry once again”, Eva regretted when they had entered the hall and removed their overcoats and shoes. “Can you help me into a chair in the living room?”

“Do you have a first aid kit here? It normally contains some bandages and band-aids?”, Toshiya asked glancing around him.

“I think there is one in the kitchen cabinets. Kitchen is on the right there and living room straight ahead”, Eva instructed Toshiya.

When Toshiya had half carried Eva to the living room, he headed to the kitchen to look for the bandages. It took a while to find the first aid box, but it was well stocked with everything necessary, including painkiller gel, bandages and cleaning fluid for wounds. He took the box with him and headed back to the living room where Eva was waiting patiently her foot resting on a low stool. She was texting with her cell phone looking slightly irritated.

“I tried to call Mari, but she doesn’t answer so I left her a message telling I’m at home with you”, Eva explained.

“How does your ankle feel? Have you tried to move it?” Toshiya asked before doing anything more.

“It works fine at rest, so I don’t think it’s broken or anything like that. But it’s getting blue above the heel which means there’s some internal hemorrhage and it’s swollen.”

“Okay then, I will add some painkiller gel and a bandage it to support the ankle. You can clean your knee with this fluid and put a band-aid on the sore.”

“Yes sir, right away”, Eva grinned and took the stuffs Toshiya was handing to her.

It didn’t take long before Eva’s left ankle was neatly bandaged, and her right knee protected with a plaster.

“Thank you very much. Now we should move to the bathroom. I need to clean up my face, wash my teeth and get rid of this dress”, Eva stated without a trace of embarrassment.

“Err, okay… Do you need a nightie or something from the bedroom?” Toshiya asked sounding slightly confused.

“No thanks, I sleep naked. But don’t worry, I’ll wear a yukata while you’re here.”

Toshiya managed to maneuver Eva to the bathroom and left her there to prepare for the night. It took a while before she had done her evening chores and opened the bathroom door dressed in a blue yukata she was using as a bathrobe.

“Okay, one more transport please, this time to the bedroom”, Eva called to get Toshiya’s attention. Her knight in shining armor was sitting in the living room reading one of Eva’s fashion magazines.

“Transport service coming up”, Toshiya huffed and scooped Eva into his lap this time. “You’re light as a feather”, he remarked when he put Eva down on her double bed.

“I would be considered fat in the modelling world… “, Eva said as she straightened the hem of her yukata looking thoughtful. “Why don’t you stay the night here? There’s plenty of room in my bed”, she finally proposed.

Up to this point everything had gone like between friends, but Eva’s proposal made Toshiya wonder what she expected from him. Suddenly he realized that this was probably his one and only chance to experience something he had never experienced before: how it would feel to be in bed with a woman.

“I would have to take a shower first… And I sleep naked too. I hope it doesn’t bother you…”, Toshiya replied hesitantly giving Eva a chance to back off.

“No, it doesn’t, but I hope you don’t snore very much” Eva giggled. 

“I’m not sure… I think I don’t.”

“Okay, that settles it then… There’s a blue towel and a new toothbrush on the bathroom tabletop. Take my spare yukata from the towel rack if you don’t want to move around naked.”

Toshiya took a long hot shower to calm down his nerves, but it didn’t help much. “You can do this” he muttered to his mirror image after he had brushed his teeth and put on the yukata. As a last resort he breathed deep three times before he opened the bathroom door and headed towards the lioness’s den, Eva’s bedroom.

When he had crawled onto his side of the bed Eva turned to face him and stroke his cheek lightly with her fingers. “Don’t be nervous. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been in a situation like this before. Being gentle comes naturally… Would you like to give me a kiss to start with?”


End file.
